Feng Shui

Something that we touched on in an earlier blog, is the balancing, harmonizing effect that Feng Shui can create in your home, but what exactly is it and how can you benefit from this ancient philosophy? Feng Shui literally translates as Wind (Feng) and Water (Shui). Chinese scholars many years ago discovered how wind and water affect our environment and well-being and how specific placement of objects can help focus the energy flow or “chi”. Sound is considered a powerful cure in Feng Shui. Wind chimes are popular with Feng Shui followers because they are harbingers of good luck. Not only can windchimes be decorative and relaxing to listen to, wind chimes historically have been used in conjunction with Feng Shui to clear negative energy out of the home and invite positive energy into it. Many Asian cultures believe windchimes can even loosen pent up energy buried under clutter! How exciting is that? Properly hung, believers think that windchimes can attract money and friends, as well as promoting health and harmony for your family. With that in mind, we’re providing some tips for inviting good spirits and positive energy into your home.

Try this: For good luck, hang hand-tuned wind chimes with six or eight round rods. If you have family troubles and need to break up bad chi, windchimes with five round rods are what you’re looking for. Do you have a long entranceway in your home? Try hanging a windchime by your front door. The sounds created by the windchime can slow down positive energy and keep it from dispersing too quickly. As a side benefit, it is also useful to alert you of anyone coming in that entranceway. Place a small wind chime in a corner to stir up and release chi in that area. North sides of homes are associated with oppressive chi; adding a windchime can make the atmosphere feel lighter.

The most important aspect of windchimes and Feng Shui is to ensure that the sound produced is pleasing and relaxing to the listener, whether that be from metal, powder-coat, glass or wood. Make sure the size of your windchimes is appropriate to the space it will be used in. Use large windchimes outside or in large living spaces, and smaller ones indoors, but keep in mind an important Feng Shui guideline, never place your windchime directly over any sitting, eating or working space.

Feng Shui is all about energy. Why not use it to create positive energy in your life? Feng Shui, while relatively new in western cultures, has a positive track record of over 5000 years. Can you really use Feng Shui? Absolutely!

Grace In Motion

We've had a lot of rain lately, but this morning the sun was shining. We saw the sun glistening on the Grace Note Wind Chime hanging on the Lanai. These classic wind chimes are handcrafted from thick-tempered aluminum tubing, with a soft brushed finish, so they look great hanging there. Oh, but when the breezes come, and you hear the chimes, well, it's Grace In Motion.

What we like most about the Grace Note Wind Chimes is the sound. These precision-tuned wind chimes have earned the reputation of being the most musical wind chimes on the market. Designed for ultimate clarity of tone and resonance, Grace Note's Classic tuned wind chimes feature a unique pinned suspension device combined with superior materials and craftsmanship. These wind chimes are available in nine sizes, from petite all the way up to deluxe chimes, which are a full 7 feet tall! Grace Note manufactures them with seven different tunings (songs). What I also like is where they are made, in California, USA. We love those homegrown products.

Grace Notes wind chimes has an interesting history. The designer of these chimes was a musician, Jeff Kile. In 1982 he was living in a rural Louisiana tree house, yes, TREE HOUSE, and playing music on the street for change! Jeff's love for music combined with his natural surroundings sparked an idea for creating the ultimate wind chime. This innovative design resulted in longer and clearer resonance. The original Grace Note wind chimes were tuned by ear to notes that Jeff played on his guitar. Encouraged by the sound quality of his wind chimes, Jeff returned to his home state of California and turned to his brother, Mark, for support. With Mark's $300.00 tax return check as a business start up, the partnership was born. They named the company Grace Note Chimes. In music, the term "grace note" refers to an unwritten musical note that falls between two existing notes, as in a bent note. A grace note is a musical adornment. It seemed a fitting name for such harmonic wind chimes.

We enjoy our chimes so much that we know Grace Notes wind chimes would make a great gift for any music lover. These chimes can be delivered gift wrapped with a personalized engraving! Sounds like a great wedding gift to me!

Music In Motion

The other day we were relaxing on the patio when a breeze blew in and our wind chimes began singing. We were listening to our Music Of The Spheres ® wind chimes. This was true "Music In Motion". A musician named Larry Roark founded this company in Austin TX USA. We love home grown products. He hand-tuned the chimes by size (voice): soprano, mezzo soprano, alto, tenor and bass, and realized that by hanging the different voices together they became a magnificent choir. The rich, round tones that radiate from these wind chimes are just beautiful. If you're interested in large chimes, Music of the Spheres ® makes them, too. The Westminster, the Contrabass and the Basso Profundo are available for that BIG sound of cathedrals.

Roark also traveled the world to select tunings (songs) for his Music Of The Spheres ® wind chimes. He designed ten different "familiar" and "exotic" tunings which come in all the voices. The tunings can also be paired with each other for even more musical magic. It's no wonder these chimes are known as "The Stradivarius of windchimes". If you'd like to hear these beautiful songs, you are welcome to click on any link.

As we sat on the patio, the wind got stronger and stronger and the windchimes got louder and louder. We remembered what we had read about these Music of the Spheres ® wind chimes. The windcatcher could be removed to adjust the volume of the chimes! This seemed like a great idea, at the time. If the wind got any stronger we could turn these chimes off altogether by sliding the clapper from the center of the chime up the center cord and resting it on the ring, outside the "cone" at the top. Music Of The Spheres ® thought of everything.

Raise Your Glass Wind Chimes

We were looking for a unique glass wind chime and someone suggested we look at Goose Rocks Designs. We hadn't heard of Goose Rocks so we didn't quite know what to expect. Wow! We were delighted by the artistic beauty of these wind chimes! These are not just any wind chimes, each is a unique themed piece of art. They are all hand made of tumbled and polished glass in Maine, USA. We love supporting homegrown art.

The chime pictured is entitled "Hope". The glass is beautifully hand crafted and would make a great accent to any room. Yes, I said room. Have you ever thought of hanging wind chimes indoors as well as outdoors? We hadn't until we saw these. These chimes can be hung anywhere there is a breeze from a ceiling fan or an open window. The soft tinkling of the glass is very relaxing and these works of art come in so many different designs, there is definitely one that will match your decor.

History of Wind Chimes

We love Wind Chimes. It was for that reason we thought to start this blog and the reason we decided to open a WindChime Store. The wind chime has a long and varied history. We’d like to share some of that history with you today.

The wind chime is a product of many cultures and many times. We all know that the songs of the wind chimes are enjoyable and help us to relax, but wind chimes had other uses in the past. Our ancestors had a practical use for windchimes, which was weather forecasting. Obviously, they didn’t have all the intricate forecasting equipment in the old days that we have today, so they used a wind chime. Here’s how it worked. The wind chime was hung in a place where the wind could pass through unobstructed. If they noticed a small change in the wind chime song, they could determine the direction the wind was blowing from and how hard the wind was blowing; the louder the chime song, the more intense the storm. Fishermen relied on a simple windchime to warn them when not to go to sea and it may have saved their lives.

The belief in Feng Shui suggests that a wind chime can balance the forces that exist around us and therefore create harmony in our homes. Historians say that centuries ago in Asian countries the most common reason to hang a wind chime in your home was to get rid of the evil spirits and invite good spirits inside. Some believe that windchimes bring forth good health and good luck, so who wouldn’t want to hang a wind chime in their home or garden? We all could use some of that!